The short answer
Vitamin C converts plant iron into a form your gut can take up, and it works only in the same meal. Raw red pepper, parsley, citrus, berries and kiwi are the easiest sources. Heat destroys much of it, so add some raw.
Plant iron arrives in a form your gut cannot use. Vitamin C converts it, and helps keep it dissolved on its way through. It is the single most useful thing you can add to a bean, grain or egg meal.
- mg130Vitamin C in 100 g of raw red pepper, about twice an orange
The best sources
- Raw red or orange pepper
- Parsley, dill and other fresh herbs
- Lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit
- Blackcurrants, strawberries and sea buckthorn
- Kiwi
- Sauerkraut
- Tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes
Put a vitamin C food on every plate with beans, lentils, grains or eggs.
Rely on long-cooked vegetables for vitamin C. Heat destroys much of it.
Colour helps too
Carotenoids, the pigments in orange, red and dark green vegetables, bind iron in your stomach and keep phytates from stealing it. Unlike vitamin C they survive cooking, and they absorb better with a little olive oil or butter. Red pepper does both jobs: raw for vitamin C, roasted for carotenoids.
Parsley sauce. A bunch of chopped parsley, the same volume of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. It keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge and goes on everything.
A real page from The Iron GuideDay one of the guide's 7-day ferritin menu.See more pagesQuestions
Should I take vitamin C with my iron tablet?
Many iron products already contain it. If yours does not, ask your doctor or pharmacist whether to add a vitamin C food or tablet at the same time.
Does orange juice count?
Yes. A glass with the meal is an easy source, especially when you eat out, and it partly offsets coffee or tea taken later.
Sources
- 1.Hallberg L., Brune M., Rossander L. The role of vitamin C in iron absorption. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research, Supplement, 1989
- 2.NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Iron: fact sheet for health professionals
- 3.US Department of Agriculture. FoodData Central
- 4.The Iron Guide, part 4: Food that counts
This page has not been reviewed by a clinician yet. Read it as general education, and take your own results to your doctor.
Educational, not medical advice. ferritin.ai does not diagnose or treat any condition, and it never sets a dose. Talk to your doctor about your own results.